Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is an Internet protocol that email programs use to look up contact information from a server. LDAP-aware client programs can ask LDAP servers to look up entries in a wide variety of ways. LDAP servers index all the data in their entries, and “filters” may be used to select or return only specific entries.
The MICROSOFT LDAP software development kit (SDK) is designed to be used by C or C++ applications to communicate to a LDAP server. The LDAP SDK is designed to work with any LDAP server, even those not developed by MICROSOFT. Applications written using the MICROSOFT Net languages (VB, C#, ASP) are encouraged to use the Active Directory Services Interface (ADSI) to communicate with LDAP servers since the LDAP SDK is difficult to use with the .Net languages.
The problem is that ADSI is primarily designed to work with Active Directory and does not work well with other LDAP servers. One critical problem is that ADSI has trouble reading any custom attributes that have been added to an LDAP server.
There is, therefore, a need in the art for a system, process, and computer program product for communicating with LDAP servers.